Singaporean Chillwave artist-producer, Houg, has announced his latest single release ‘Department of Loved’, with local Vaporwave maestro Don Aaron. As part of his upcoming album, ‘The Biting Tempo’, the single was made available on all major digital streaming platforms on the 11th of February 2022.
Poised as the companion song to Houg’s October 2021 release ‘Excuse Me (What’s the Time?)’, ‘Department of Loved’ re-explores the conversation of decayed relationships. Where the former single focuses on one’s denial behind time’s catalysing influence over the matter, ‘Department of Loved’ focuses more on the acceptance of it.
On working with Don Aaron, Houg shares, “When I got my good friend Don Aaron on board to help co-write the track, I really wanted to tap into his perspective. A couple of years my senior and a humble person by nature, I found his thoughts and experiences over the matter of failed friendships could be really useful in helping me embrace the term of acceptance a lot better than I ever could do so myself (at my age, anyway).”
Honest and forlorn, ‘Department of Loved’ is the perfect juxtaposition to ‘Excuse Me (What’s the Time?)’. Paced more slowly with a more melancholic tone to it, the word ‘love’ in the song title is intentionally in its past tense on the song. With music influences from both artists from the likes of English pop-rock band, Tears For Fears and American vapour pioneer, George Clanton, this brand new single has a biting tempo and aggression in its general energy for a protagonist who is in a state of anger and denial.
Don Aaron adds, “Working with Houg is super easy. This is how a musical collaboration should feel like. It is always fun when 2 collaborators are fans of something. Be it the Tears for Fears-inspired drum sounds, to the synthesized acoustic guitar sounds made famous by TLC with their track ‘No Scrubs’. It’s things like these that we find funny and charming just because we’re fans of it. And that’s a great spirit to have because we’re not taking each other too seriously, and it also makes the music production experience even more meaningful.”
Houg’s upcoming album, ‘The Biting Tempo’ sees the artist himself making an explicit effort, breathing life both visually and lyrically into his interpretation of time. The album is slated for release in March 2022.
